Playing out of deeeeep greenside bunkers

rollin

"Just playin golf pally"
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Played a (first time for me course today). I actually had a pretty decent day ball striking off the tees. Also struck the ball well with irons as for good contact but was too often left/right of greens (hence part of why not the mid/low capper....lol).

So here was an issue with this course. Greens were surrounded with bunkers to the point of majority of them could be classified almost as island greens. Bunkers were very long and I mean would surround many even most of them like 1/2 to even 2/3 way around the greens. The second issue was that most all of them were way down low deeeep with steep high walls. Im talking when standing on green you cannot see the player in these bunkers and might (maybe) on some of them you can see the club head only at top of their swing and even that wasn't usually the case.

Firstly the sand was different from most other courses so that in itself took some getting use to. But the height at which was required to get out was a big problem. None of us could figure out how to get out of these darn things partly because well...we never played this to this degree before. The other problem was the hills you would be on "if" the ball managed to stay out of the bunkers was so steep they were about one degree short of not even being able to stand to take any kind of stroke. Honestly imo the whole scenario was kind of ridiculous. Pretty course and we had fun but just not use to this and honeslt a bit much to almost demand you hit greens or basically suffer. Not to mention the greens were about as sloped as can be so putting 9though i did manage to do pretty well) was very difficult. None the less between the bunkers themselves and type of sand, the extra deepness of them, the extra steep walls...... You either hit the greens or if you didn't you very likely ended up in something very difficult. It was basically a short game disaster for all of us and a couple players are darn good at short stuff still struggled. Just not use to this to this degree at all.

How/what do you guys do to get out of these different from a typical bunker? Is there any special way to play these that differs from more traditional bunker swings? That is the main question here. Here are some pics which to be honest don't even quite portray the reality height required because the pics of course lose some 3D depth. So picture it all even worse (deeper) than they appear. But as said....it is pretty course.
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You either swing as fast as you can with your wedge open wide so it has a chance to get in the air, or you take your lowest lofted iron and smack it straight into the hill and hope it shoots straight up in the air so it stays on the green. Those kinda bunkers aren't the most fun all the time, but they're fun every once in a while.
 
You either swing as fast as you can with your wedge open wide so it has a chance to get in the air, or you take your lowest lofted iron and smack it straight into the hill and hope it shoots straight up in the air so it stays on the green. Those kinda bunkers aren't the most fun all the time, but they're fun every once in a while.

problem with the wide open wedge was the sand. It was the kind of sand that offered resistance to passing through it. The club would just thump with its bounce especially wide open. But keeping it more closed couldn't get the height. You almost need to try to pick it clean with a low bounce high loft club but ''''lol good luck with that. My best shot was a bladed wedge (accidentally) which actually rolled across yards of bunker and up the hill and to about 6 feet...lol. The guys above on the green (who couldn't see me) we congratulating a great shot. Little did they know was a complete screw up that got so lucky. Then I told them...lol
 
Hey whats with the stupid photobucket shadows on the images...lol Sorry but that's what came up that way. Kind of takes away from the prettiness of the pics.
 
Clubhead speed, not really a way to hit this shot without it plus open up the face.
 
Clubhead speed, not really a way to hit this shot without it plus open up the face.

Doesn't an open face increase bounce? And if the sand is such which has a lot of body to it (not fluffy) bounce becomes unwanted. or is it all just a matter of really powering trough it regardless?

Fwiw I suppose most can see (from the pics) just how often we all were in these things all day. lol
 
Honestly not a shot I hit much due to the courses I play. I don't open it up a ton but I think it truly is clubhead speed and powering through with a bit of luck mixed in at least when I do it.
 
Honestly not a shot I hit much due to the courses I play. I don't open it up a ton but I think it truly is clubhead speed and powering through with a bit of luck mixed in at least when I do it.

haha, I was in like at least 10 of these today (if not more) and if we include the times I was on a side hill (almost impossible to stand) …...lets just say the short game was a real problem. Kind of bummed me out because I finally had a decent day ball striking which has been killing me. So I was happy in one sense and yet bummed out in another.
 
So that’s a pretty sweet looking setup, something like Langford and Moreau’s Lawsonia here in Wisconsin. What’s the name of the course?
 
Open the face and commit is how I approach them. This shot is hard, but not too bad once you get the hang of it. I was in one almost every other hole on dubs dread at cog hill when we played it a few years back. Sand being compact isn’t really that bad...basically play it fairly similar to a flip shot.
 
So that’s a pretty sweet looking setup, something like Langford and Moreau’s Lawsonia here in Wisconsin. What’s the name of the course?
Its "Forsegate CC" in NJ.
And yea I agree it is sweat looking. But this is every hole and unless your use to it,...its a problem.

fwiw I been looking this shot up and seems (as some said) it needs a full committed strong swing with a very open club and a way across cutting swing path.

Honestly I can see one getting use to it once practiced enough. But on the other hand you also have the steep side hills that the ball does sometimes get hung up on. Imo the whole thing (considering this is like every hole) is still a bit too much. Add to this that the greens are very sloped and if you as me, the course (because of it all) should be rated higher than the 134 slope that it is. I mean the course is not all that tight from the tees and does permit driver usage on even its shorter holes. But one really does need to hit greens in order to score well. Or you simply just need to truly get real good at these bunker plays. And I suppose after a while one does. But still....imo one shouldn't really constantly be faced with this for missing greens by just a few feet/yards. That said I would actually love to play it more. Its like im now determined to get out of these things now...lol
Though a private (likely expensive) CC and I don't see that happening any significant amount at all.
 
I’m not much of a bunker player but at times when I’ve had to hit very steep shots a very short distance I used a technique I learned from a video called Gary Player at the road hole. Excellent advice demonstrated clearly.
 
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